Kenya is now racing against time to meet new European Union requirements that could significantly impact its coffee export industry.
If the country fails to comply with these regulations, it could lose access to one of its most valuable international markets, potentially costing the nation up to Ksh90 billion.
On Tuesday, July 15, the Ministry of Agriculture issued an urgent directive to several government agencies, asking them to accelerate efforts toward meeting the European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR).
This regulation, introduced by the EU on April 19, 2023, demands that all coffee exported to European countries must be confirmed as not linked to deforestation. The coffee must also be legally sourced and traceable to the exact location where it was grown.
This requirement presents a significant challenge for Kenya, which relies heavily on the European Union as one of its largest buyers of Arabica coffee.
In a detailed report presented to Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe, it was revealed that Kenya exported 122,699 metric tonnes of clean coffee to the EU in the past five years alone. These exports earned the country around USD 695.7 million, which is approximately Ksh90 billion.
This trade accounts for close to 60 percent of Kenya’s total coffee exports, making the EU market vital to the country’s agricultural economy.
Losing access to this market would not only deal a heavy blow to national revenues but would also directly affect more than 800,000 coffee farmers across Kenya, many of whom depend on this income for their livelihoods.
To avoid this crisis, CS Kagwe has instructed key agencies—including the Kenya Forest Service, the Kenya Space Agency, the Directorate of Resource Surveys and Remote Sensing, and the Coffee Directorate—to urgently pool resources and implement necessary measures.
The aim is to achieve full compliance with the EUDR by November 2025, just one month ahead of the EU’s enforcement date of December 30, 2025.
One of the most pressing tasks is to develop and launch a digital traceability system that can track every batch of Kenyan coffee back to the specific farms where it was grown.
This system must provide evidence that the coffee was not cultivated on land that was deforested after December 2020, which is a key condition under the new EU law.
The European Commission has made it clear that the purpose of the EUDR is to reduce global deforestation, which is largely caused by the expansion of farmland, particularly in tropical countries.
The regulation targets key agricultural products such as coffee, cocoa, palm oil, soy, beef, and timber, aiming to ensure that these commodities do not contribute to environmental destruction.
Countries like Brazil, Vietnam, and Ethiopia—also major coffee producers—are facing similar challenges and tight deadlines.
However, Kenya’s situation is more difficult because of its slow adoption of digital tools in agriculture, which puts it at a disadvantage compared to nations with more advanced technologies and better infrastructure.
With time quickly running out, the Kenyan government must act swiftly to align its coffee industry with the EU’s new environmental standards.
Failure to do so could not only jeopardize a vital export sector but also threaten the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of smallholder farmers who rely on coffee farming to support their families.
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